Chalkboards

I was walking around Michael's yesterday looking for something for Lily to do as an art project and I saw these:

These cute chalk boards were only $1.99 each!!
They came in lots of shapes, but I grabbed a princess one for Lily & rectangles for Lily's cousins for a craft day.

I also got this pink marabou for Lily's crown, glitter flower & star stickers, and chalkboard sticker paper to cut shapes out of:

Before craft day started, I hot glued the pink marabou onto Lily's crown.

She was super excited about it.

Then when Camden came over (Johnny was sick =( so he couldn't come), he and Lily decorated their chalk boards.

I didn't get any pictures of them actually decorating them, but I did get some off them coloring on them when they were done!

Here are their cute chalk boards!

These were fun to make and the kids can use them over & over again!

Grilling Out

Zach had to help Jeff grill a meal for Scouts.
Since it was so nice on Saturday, we decided to do it then.
Here is Zach helping Jeff grill chicken & hot dogs:

We added pasta salad to what Zach cooked and we had a yummy dinner to eat outside!

Then we decided to cook marshmallows over the fire.

We used regular marshmallows & strawberry heart ones too!

Jeff got the fire going:

The kids had fun roasting their marshmallows!

Yummy!

Zach did a great job cooking dinner for us!

You Know You're In Kansas.....

when it is -17 degrees one week with 7 inches of snow on the ground,
and then 78 degrees the next week & you are playing outside with short sleeves on.
I am not complaining about the weather this week though.
The kids have loved being outside.
And I have LOVED the kids being outside. =)
We have been spending a little too much quality time inside.
(If you know what I mean.....)
So, here are some pictures of what we have been doing outside:

Zach has even been reading outside.

We are going to keep enjoying this weather before it gets cold again.

Because it will get cold again.

We live in Kansas. =)

Ponies

Lily has a lot of My Little Ponies.
A lot.
She has ponies of all colors and sizes.
She LOVES them.
Recently, I have noticed ponies in odd places.
I notice this at least once a day.
I thought it was funny.
So, I started taking pictures of where Lily's ponies were throughout the house.

I found her ponies on the blinds in the family room one day:

(There is a window in the dining room where the princesses hang out.....)

I found these two tiny ponies on the chair rail that goes around the family room another day:

I have found these ponies on these candles several times.

They must like it there.

And yes, it is always the same three ponies.

I was putting some of her kitchen stuff away one day and found some ponies eating a hot dog in the microwave....

...and these ponies in a bowl....

on the stove....

with a spoon....

I'll let you decide why they are in that exact spot....

But the funniest place I think I have found ponies was here:

One night, I pulled back the covers in our bed & found two ponies.

I have a very silly little girl. =)

Taking Advantage Of The Nice Weather!

Today was beautiful!
It was sunny and warm. =)
After the last week of snow and FREEZING temps, this was a welcome change!
Since it was so nice (and we were all getting cabin fever) we headed to the zoo with Grandma Logan.

We always check out the flamingos.

They are so pretty.

Today they were crazy loud though.

Maybe they were excited about the warm weather too. =)

Another pretty bird I like to see at the zoo is the peacock.

When I was growing up, the neighbor down the street from my grandparent's house had peacocks. Sometimes at night you could hear them yelling what sounded like "Help! Help!"

Kind of creepy when you're only 8 years old.......

(and you're welcome for that little peacock anecdote.)

The petting zoo is always a dangerous place.

The kids always want to feed the sheep.......

until they actually have food in their hands and they remember that the sheep aren't very nice.
Poor Riley got hit in the back before he could even get any food to feed them.

The sheep finally settled down long enough to get fed though.

Then we headed to the penguins!

The boys love to go to the reptile house.

There are 3 giant turtles (tortoise??)

Lily actually likes to come in here too.

She may be a girly-girl, but she likes to show her brothers she can do whatever they can do.

For instance, a zoo keeper took a snake out and let the kids touch it.

It didn't really surprise me that the boys ran up to touch it.

It did kind of surprise me that Lily ran right up there to touch it too!

I don't think it even occurred to her that it might be something to be afraid of.

She saw her brothers do it, so she knew she could too.

I love that!

I, however would not go near it.......

Next was the tigers.

I don't have any pictures of the real tigers.

Just the one that the kids always have to pose with...

The gorillas were out walking around enjoying the sunshine too.

This one came up really close to the glass and walked up and down the length of it.

This little hut in the gorilla house (along with various statues throughout the zoo) is one of the kids favorite things about the zoo.

Not the animals......

the hut and the statues......

But, what they actually enjoyed the most today, was this:

Running around outside!!! =)

Of course right after I took this picture, poor Lily tripped and fell into a puddle of water.

The first thing she said when I went to her though, was not how hurt she was, but:

"My favorite shoes!!!"

They were all wet & muddy.

Yep, definitely a girl....

Then we checked out the lions.

The last thing we saw were the elephants.

If you look closely at the bottom of his trunk, the elephant is picking up a piece of ice to eat.

He did this several times. It was really funny to watch.

We enjoyed our day out today so much!!

The weather this week is supposed to stay nice.

Hopefully it will.

I am SO over snow!!

Valentine Art Projects

With all of the snow and Lily being sick this past week, we did not get in a Valentine Craft Day like I wanted. Even though she still has a yucky nose and a cough, Lily is starting to feel a lot better, so today we got crafting!

While I cut our hearts for another project, Lily used foam stickers, crayons, and glitter glue to make this picture:

Heart Bugs!

Then we moved onto making a heart wreath.

I cut out the middle of a paper plate & lots of hearts!

Then Lily put glue all over the plate.

Yes we usually do crafts in a princess dress......

don't you?

Then she stuck hearts all over the wreath.

I added a ribbon to hang it with.

Our last heart project was making hearts with paint and heart shaped cookie cutters.

I just put paint on paper plates (easy clean-up) and let her put the cookie cutters in the paint and then onto the paper.

She really liked this one.

She made several pictures, this is just one of them:

All of these are pretty easy to do.

Lily really didn't need my help at all!
We are going to make Valentines too, but we have to wait for the boys to get home so they can make some too!